Los Angeles County supervisors acknowledged a crisis and declared an emergency proclamation Tuesday for the Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, paving the way to address the staffing crisis.
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"Drastic times calls for drastic measures. Clearly decisive action needs to be taken and it needs to be taken now." Supervisor Kathryn Barger said.
The facility had been ordered closed Dec.12 by the California Board of State and Community Corrections.
"We found that the current staffing numbers do not allow for all required activities, operations, programs and facility functions, and to ensure the safety of youth and staff," a BSCC field representative wrote.
Los Padrinos continues to operate past the closure order because there isn't a viable alternative location to hold the youth. "The county has no other place to house these youth -- particularly given that, among other things, BSCC itself has not approved any other county facilities to do so," according to the supervisors' motion.
Barger explained the problems at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall are not the brick and mortar of the building, but rather the lack of staffing to keep the 242 youth housed there stable and safe. She said closing the facility and sending the detained youth out into the community is not an option because "a very high percentage" of them are facing charges for violent offenses.
Supervisor Hilda Solis said the motion will empower the probation chief to fix the problem of officers not showing up for their shifts at the understaffed facility.
“We have staff that don't want to come in for whatever reason, and they may have a medical excuse, we're going to go through and look at that,” she said. “But we also have a tendency where people are calling out the very day they're supposed to show up, they're being told to come in and they're not showing up.”
The juvenile hall has been plagued with operational issues since it reopened last year to house detainees relocated from Central Juvenile Hall in Boyle Heights and Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, which were both ordered closed by the state, and both also had staffing problems.
The motion directs the Department of Human Resources and other relevant departments to expedite recruitment and hiring to fill vacancies at the facility, to offer bonuses or incentives up to $24,000 to lateral transfers, and to consider hiring any qualified peace officer in the state, including reserve officers and 120-day retirees, to ensure full staffing.
"Proclaiming a local emergency to address this critical crisis will provide the county with additional tools to accelerate and expand its response in collaboration with our state partners and others," the motion states.
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The county Probation Department is still appealing the BSCC's closure order, although the state board is not scheduled to meet until Wednesday.
"While we fully agree with safety and security standards, we disagree with their (the BSCC's) application of regulations and overall findings, particularly around staffing ratios," Vicky Waters, the department's communications director, said in a statement last week. "The department fully intends to keep Los Padrinos open and operational."
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